


Handle With Care

by Cones_McMurphy



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Be nice please, But not exactly, Hunk is a good best friend, M/M, Sort of Canon Compliant?, also Keith's voice is REALLY new for me, an attempt at least, this is my first Voltron fic so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-13 23:54:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11771091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cones_McMurphy/pseuds/Cones_McMurphy
Summary: If there's one think Keith Kogane knows, it's that he isn't very sensitive.If there's one thing Hunk Garrett knows, it's that Lance McClain is.





	Handle With Care

**Author's Note:**

> AHHH I don't know what this. It's a mess. Somewhat canon compliant?? Just a random plot bunny that wouldn't leave me alone. (Do people still say 'plot bunny'?

Keith sat on the edge of his bed, staring at his hands, letting his mind wander. Things had been crazy lately. Defeating Prince Lotor seemed like a distant hope, and the Black Lion still wasn’t responding to Shiro, which meant for the time being, Keith was the leader of Voltron. The weight of the world was on his shoulders. At least he had Lance… _How did it come to this? Me relying on Lance to help me save the universe?_ He shook his head. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Lance. Quite the opposite. He trusted Lance with his life. But it was weird, wasn’t it? _Lance McClain. The cargo pilot who failed the simulator test a dozen times and made fun of Keith’s hair on a daily basis._ Still, he couldn't deny he needed Lance. He  _could_ , however, deny that he wanted Lance. And he did. They had a war to fight, so his feelings stayed locked up in a box in the back of his mind. That was the only way. 

Keith’s thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door. He stood immediately.

“Keith? It’s Hunk. Can I come in?”

“It’s open.” Keith tried to smooth his face of worries, like Shiro always seemed to do, but he could tell that Hunk wasn’t buying it. “What’s going on?”

“I just…Wanted to talk to you.” The door closed quietly behind Hunk as he walked in.

“Okay…” Keith’s stomach churned with dread. He hoped this wasn’t another pep talk. He’d barely been able to pull Lance out of his insecurities, how was he supposed to help Hunk? He really wasn’t cut out for this kind of leadership. 

“It’s about Lance.” Hunk wasn’t looking at Keith.

“Uh,” Keith stumbled. He wasn’t sure what that meant. “What…What about Lance?” 

“He cares about you, Keith.” Hunk said it simply, but it didn’t feel simple to Keith. _When exactly did we stop hating each other?_ He wanted to ask if Hunk knew what changed, or when, because to Keith it seemed simultaneously sudden and inevitable.

“I know,” he said, instead. “I care about him, too. We’re friends.”

“No, that’s not,” Hunk sighed. “That’s not what I meant.” 

Keith’s heart skipped a beat. “W-what did you mean?” Maybe he was playing a little bit dumb, but he couldn’t be sure he was reading the situation correctly. He might’ve spent most of the last few months shoving his feelings for Lance into that little box in the back of his brain, but that didn’t mean Lance was doing the same.

“I mean, he has feelings for you,” Hunk was genuinely frustrated now. “Like, romantic ones.”

Keith blinked twice and stared dumbly at Hunk. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Why—Why are you telling me this?” Keith’s brain was short circuiting. The box in the back of his brain had burst open, and all he could think about was Lance’s stupid smirk, his dark blue eyes that seemed to carry oceans, the way he held his bayard, so determined, so focused, even the dusting of freckles on his cheeks. Hunk was talking again, and his words snapped Keith back to the present.

“I don’t want you to hurt him.”

_“What?!”_ Something burned in Keith at the insinuation that he would hurt Lance, but he swallowed his anger. Hunk didn’t seem like the kind of person to fling wild accusations, and besides. A leader must control his temper.

“Look, Lance puts up a lot of obnoxious bravado, but he’s like a baby bird, you know? He’s fragile,” Hunk fidgeted with his fingerless gloves. “And I think your opinion means more to him than anyone’s. So just…Be careful.”

“Okay…”

“Don’t string him along. And, you know, if you have to…” Hunk sighed. “Let him down easy? Don’t break his heart, Keith.”

“Let him…” Keith trailed off as he processed what Hunk was trying to say.

 

_You’re holding his heart, Keith. Don’t break it. Don’t break him._

 

“Hunk,” Keith shook his head. “I won’t…I don’t…” Keith took a deep breath. He’d never said this out loud before. “I care about him, too.”

“You do?” The corner’s of Hunk’s lips started to pull into a smile. 

“Yeah.” Keith’s entire face felt hot. “I would never intentionally hurt Lance.”

 “Good,” Hunk chuckled, seeming relieved. “Because then I’d have to hurt you, and you’re my friend, too, Keith! That would suck.”

Keith let himself relax for a moment, and returned Hunk’s easy laugh, although his heart wasn’t quite in it. He knew why Hunk had felt the need to have this conversation in the first place. Keith put up a lot of walls. He wasn’t the easiest person to love. And Lance was more sensitive than he let on. Lance needed someone who could be reassuring, someone who he could let his guard down around, someone who not only saw just how good Lance’s good parts really were, but who knew how to express what they felt. And Keith…Keith wasn’t that kind of person.

Keith felt so much, but he really didn't know how expressed anything beyond anger. He'd never really had to, before.

“So, uh…” Keith cleared his throat. “Is that all?” 

“Yeah,” Hunk moved toward the door. “Just fulfilling the best friend duties.” 

“Right.” Keith nodded. 

“Oh, one last thing?” Hunk stopped in the doorway. “Don’t wait too long to tell him how you feel.” 

“Hunk—” 

“I know things are crazy right now, but you both deserve to be happy.”

“I have to lead Voltron, I…” Keith wasn’t sure what he was going to say. Nothing seemed exactly right.

“I know, I know,” Hunk forced a smile and backed out of the door way. “Have a good night, Keith!”

“Good night, Hunk.” 

Keith sank back down onto his bed. There were so many reasons to pretend the conversation with Hunk had never happened. He had a war to fight and a team to lead. He didn’t have time for feelings, or the oceans in Lance’s eyes, or trying to actually express how much he felt for Lance. He should focus on leading Voltron. He didn’t need to go pouring his heart out to Lance, just because he knew that Lance wouldn’t immediately laugh in his face. 

That was a logical argument. Only, he wasn’t much of a leader without Lance. Lance cut through the noise, and somehow managed to get Keith to see clearly, to calm down before rushing head first into something terrible. Lance questioned nearly every decision Keith made. Lance forced him to see other perspectives. Without Lance, Keith had no balance. He let his anger cloud his judgment, he didn’t stop to think. He really, truly,  _needed_ Lance.  

Keith leaned back until he was laying down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. “Do I risk it?” he asked the air, and then dragged his hands down his face. He was Keith Kogane, master of Act First, Think Later. And here he was, overanalyzing everything until he practically had a migraine. _So what if Hunk thinks I’ll hurt him?_ He moved his hands back to his sides. _Hunk knows him better than anyone, that’s what._  

_Hunk doesn’t know me, though, not really._ He needed Lance. He _wanted_ Lance. He couldn’t hurt Lance. He _wouldn’t_ hurt Lance. _But what if I tell him and we try, and I hurt him anyway? What’s worse? Never telling him how I feel and breaking his heart through silence, or breaking his heart because I don’t know how to handle things with care?_ Keith sighed as Hunk’s words echoed in his head.

 

_“You both deserve to be happy.”_

 

Keith sat up. _Would Lance make me happy?_ It was a stupid question with a blatantly obvious answer.

Yes.

_I have to tell him._ Keith checked the time, before remembering he wasn’t really sure what the clocks on the castle actually said. It didn’t matter. It was late. He could tell Lance tomorrow. Or the next day.

 

            _“Don’t wait too long.”_

 

Tomorrow, then. For the first time in weeks, Keith felt calm. Everything was uncertain, and the threat of Prince Lotor loomed, but for once Keith’s thoughts regarding Lance had settled. He was going to let himself be happy.

That night, Keith dreamed of oceans.


End file.
